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Three to vie for SOC crown MT file photo Eagle Point's Andrew Larsen, top, fends off Crater's Nate Gipson in a Dec. 5 dual meet. Larsen enters this week's SOC district meet at Crater High ranked No. 1 at 125 pounds, while Gipson earned the top seed at 130. Roseburg, Eagle Point and Crater are the favorites heading into this weekend's tournament By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT - Handicapping this week's Southern Oregon Conference district wrestling tournament is a little iffy considering each team enjoys pointing out its own handicaps. Crater has won five straight and 10 of the last 12 district titles, but opened the SOC season with dual-meet losses to Eagle Point and Roseburg. The Indians stormed through the SOC dual-meet season undefeated, but don't have a history of winning the big one. Eagle Point split with Crater and Roseburg, but prefers the role of underdog heading into Friday and Saturday's action at Crater High. "Crater has to have a little bit of an advantage just due to the fact that they're home and they've won that thing before," says third-year Eagle Point coach Brad McBee. "Until somebody beats them, they're still the team on top." No matter whom you want to believe, the coming district tourney stands to be one for the ages considering the expected tight race by Roseburg and Eagle Point to unseat the Comets. "We've yet to beat either one of those teams in a tournament or a dual," says 14th-year Crater coach Greg Haga. "They can say what they want and use it as a motivator. Obviously we're not going to lay down and let someone come into our gym and take the title from us." If state rankings are any judge of caliber, wrestling fans will be in for a treat. Roseburg enters the district meet ranked No. 3 among tournament teams, while Eagle Point is seventh and Crater eighth. "All the teams are even enough that it may come down to the bracketing (Wednesday)," says McBee. "Whoever gets the best draw might have a leg up on everyone else." Depending on how you look at it, McBee's theory makes a case for Crater and Roseburg. Crater boasts the most No. 1 seeds with six, followed by four from Eagle Point, three from Roseburg and one from North Medford. Of the top seeds, only Joe Lewis at 119 pounds and Andrew Larsen (125) of Eagle Point and Roseburg's Levi Thomas (189) are defending district champions. Seizing the favorites' role for Crater are Bryson Gutches at 103 pounds, Nate Gipson (130), Jeremy McLaughlin (135), Josh King (140), Rudy Ramirez (145) and Chris Dearmon (275). Other Eagle Point top seeds are Justin Sheile (112) and Tyson Nelson (171). The remaining top draws went to Rob Folsom of North Medford at 160 and Roseburg's Joel Oiler (152) and Cody Parker (215). But when you consider Friday's first-round draws, Roseburg has an obvious advantage with 21 matches compared to 16 for the Eagles and 11 for Crater. "That will make a difference in the team score so we're going to have to make up for that in the next round by getting a win and maybe a fall," says Haga. Roseburg enters the district tourney with the most prominent season highlights, most recently dominating the Hilhi Tournament of Champions. Picked third in the preseason SOC coaches' poll, the Indians stormed out of the gate and seemingly never looked back. "At first I think people were surprised a little bit by us but I think the potential has been here for that kind of success," says first-year coach Steve Lander. "For whatever reason we've been putting things together each match out so it's been a lot of fun for all of us." Eagle Point had a similar strong start, upending second-ranked Newberg in its own tournament to send the Eagles soaring throughout their schedule. "We don't have the superstars that can wrestle mediocre and still win against top-caliber competition," says McBee. "We have to take a different approach and go in prepared for a battle in each match." Considering the expected tight race for the title, it's hard to imagine any other way to approach this week's action at Crater High. "Great teams wrestle great when they have to," says Haga. "Our backs are to the wall like Eagle Point and Roseburg's are so it's up to who wants to set themselves apart from the others." Top 4 SOC District Seeds 103 - 1, Bryson Gutches, Crater; 2, Trevor Lofstedt, Roseburg; 3, Nick Alexander, Eagle Point; 4, Tyler Baker, Grants Pass. 112 - 1, Justin Sheile, Eagle Point; 2, Kevin Beavers, Roseburg; 3, Dean Cornelison, Klamath Union; 4, Jeremy Firestone, Crater. 119 - 1, Joe Lewis, Eagle Point; 2, J.P. Peckham, Roseburg; 3, Cody Ponder, Crater; 4, Ian Rasmussen, South Medford. 125 - 1, Andrew Larsen, Eagle Point; 2, Brian Walker, Roseburg; 3, Jason Licato, Crater; 4, Zack Steddum, Grants Pass. 130 - 1, Nate Gipson, Crater; 2, Stephen Price, Eagle Point; 3, Chase Maloney, Crater; 4, Tyler Spears, Roseburg. 135 - 1, Jeremy McLaughlin, Crater; 2, Seth Thomas, Roseburg; 3, Kyle Marci, Crater; 4, Jacob Leonardo, Eagle Point. 140 - 1, Josh King, Crater; 2, Josh Wilder, Crater; 3, Isaac Herbert, Roseburg; 4, David Rullamas, Eagle Point. 145 - 1, Rudy Ramirez, Crater; 2, Morgan Edenstrom, Eagle Point; 3, Jimmy Ulrey, North Medford; 4, Matt Jacobson, Roseburg. 152 - 1, Joel Oiler, Roseburg; 2, Jason Adams, Eagle Point; 3, Ron Lee, Crater; 4, Trevor Knight, Grants Pass. 160 - 1, Rob Folsom, North Medford; 2, Victor Shelton, Eagle Point; 3, Nick Shaffer, Roseburg; 4, Christian Mannenbach, Eagle Point. 171 - 1, Tyson Nelson, Eagle Point; 2, Brian Alves, Grants Pass; 3, Kevin O'Shea, South Medford; 4, Brian Mahoney, Klamath Union. 189 - 1, Levi Thomas, Roseburg; 2, Jake Phillips, Eagle Point; 3, Cuauhtemoc Gomez, Roseburg; 4, Robert Kincaid, Klamath Union. 215 - 1, Cody Parker, Roseburg; 2, James MacCormack, Ashland; 3, Dominic Rodriguez, Klamath Union; 4, Ben Vandagrift, Klamath Union. 275 - 1, Chris Dearmon, Crater; 2, Justin Troxel, Roseburg; 3, Nick Smith, Eagle Point; 4, David Folsom, Roseburg. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.